4 Reasons to Beware the Too-Nice Manager

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Alison,
It would be "neat" to have a function on your website where this article (and possibly others like it) could be anonymously emailed the "nice" boss.

B of DC 4:50AM March 21, 2009

R, in response to your question about whether it's a lost cause, I think there's only way to get a too-nice manager to do the job well -- and that's if they themselves have a good boss who sees what's going on and addresses it assertively over a period of time, through a combination of mentoring and direct instruction. Without that, I do that it's a lost cause.

Alison Green of DC 5:03PM March 17, 2009

The best she could do was tell me in my end-of-year interview to "be more positive." I was floored when I read the written follow-up slamming me for an email sent months earlier -- to another employee -- that she concluded created the impression that I was not happy working for the organization! I love my job, and my employer. Had she said something -- anything -- at the time, we could have dealt with her erroneous perception, based on isolated comments that were not even that bad, from an objective standpoint. Now, it's immortalized for all time in my performance review, because she can only be "nice."

grannybunny of TX 11:12AM March 17, 2009

Too nice managers are as difficult as a jerk boss, but in a different way. Mine struggles with enforcing the same standards of work across the board; good employees feel demoralized in this environment where slackers and people with attendance issues and performance are allowed to stay and stay and it often becomes the better employee's job to clean up after a poor performer. Is there any way to approach the too-nice boss, or is it a lost cause?

R of CO 8:48AM March 17, 2009